7 Days of Chicken

Awhile back, I made a fantastic chicken dish that I really enjoyed. If you’ve been following my blogs for a while, you understand my complete distaste for chicken. Well, let’s be fair. Not all chicken is bad, mind you. It’s the dry, nasty (and did I say dry…and nasty) chicken breast that I don’t like. But this dish was different. It was juicy and flavorful. I was rather proud of myself!

Unfortunately, I was the only one who enjoyed it.

Apparently, my distaste for chicken has rubbed off on my family. When the kids found out we were having chicken breasts, you would have thought the world was coming to an end with all the ruckus they made. And if they weren’t bad enough, in comes Tom with his own comments. I insisted this was a new recipe and the chicken was very moist. It didn’t matter. It was still chicken. I was so irritated by this point that I thought it was time to teach my family a little lesson on appreciation.

7 days of chicken.

Yep, that’s right. 7 glorious days of nothing but chicken for dinner. Tom and the kids didn’t think I would go through with it and called my bluff. Really?

Day One: Pho Ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup). Tom and the kids absolutely love this dish and were more than happy to slurp up every last drop of the chicken broth. We’re off to a great start! (Kids and Tom extremely happy).

Day Two: Chicken breast with tarragon sauce. This is one of our more popular chicken dishes on our catering menu and with the creamy tarragon sauce, you have a real winner. (Kids happy, but not crazy about the chicken breast. Tom pretty happy).

Day Three: Roast chicken. For the most part, the kids took this day in stride. After all, who doesn’t love the smell of chicken fresh off the rotisserie? With pan drippings to make the gravy, there wasn’t a dry piece of chicken in sight. However, the weight of eating chicken daily is starting to weigh on the family. (Kids pretty happy, Tom ok, although he looked like he’s had better days).

Day Four: Fried chicken. I absolutely LOVE fried chicken. You can’t dry out a chicken with this method. I could eat fried chicken legs till the cows come home. My family on the other hand, especially at this point in the game… (Kids ok, Tom not ok).

Day Five: One of our favorite wing haunts – Buffalo Wild Wings. I can’t get the wings spicy enough. I usually start with 6 Mango Habanero wings followed by 6 Blazing ones. Tom and our son share a large order and usually go through all their wings pretty quickly. Not this time. Nope, this time there were plenty of leftovers. (Kids not that happy, Tom’s eyes are glazed over).

Day Six: Leftovers. Or was it? Remember, there were leftover wings from our shindig the night before. There’s no reason to waste perfectly good food. Since I had dinner plans with a friend, I was not home to chaperone the chicken-fest, so I made Tom promise me that he’d feed the leftover wings to the kids. This is one of the few times Tom has broken a promise to me. (Kids happy for no chicken and Tom’s facial color is coming back).

Day Seven: Pan-fried chicken breast. I find out there was a coup the night before and thought the troop needed a little reminder in what I was trying to accomplish. I would have grilled and intentionally overcooked the chicken breasts just to make a statement. But hey, I need to eat too and there’s no reason to make ME suffer. (Kids NOT happy, Tom starting to squawk like a chicken).

By the time that week was over, I think even Colonel Sanders would have wanted a steak. But since those memorable 7 days, Tom and the kids haven’t complained once about chicken…